Record Store Day approaches.  On April 17, we'll celebrate the once mighty - and may be again - Mecca of music knowledge and acqusition.  Catalogued and neatly stacked, the LP reigned for decades as the primary media of music dispensation.  The store that housed and sold these circular miles of grooves varied in culture, appealing to different buyers in vastly dissimilar ways.

Many of you have visited several stores in your lifetimes.  All of you had your favorites.  There were the Mall chains, which sold a generous collection of more popular titles with small forays into the once revered imports section and a small experimental batch of off-titles to stay "cool."

There were monstrous warehouse-like chains much like the current Amoeba Records houses (LA, Berkeley, The Haight in SF) that are gone but loved.  Those were the beloved Tower chain, as well as the Peaches Records & Tapes chain. Throw in Licorice Pizza, and a grouping of other "very cool" gathering places, and you had quite a selection.

Then there were the independent houses that claimed their stakes in the towns and cities they were based in.  Wildly named and as varied in collection as the above named chains, these smaller stores were the platelets of the great flow of music store outlets.  Rolling Stone Records in Chicago, Crow's Nest in Joliet, IL, and in my hometown location, the small but very personable Art's Record Shop in Streator, IL, were as different from each other in reach but all held a similar trait, they were gathering places for the fan.

Record stores were/are a place some could spend hours thumbing through the alphabetized LPs in the hopes of stumbling across something potentially life-changing.  You didn't always find such music but sometimes you did get one that you would never even hear on the radio.  It might have come from a struck conversation with a roaming clerk (who usually knew their music well.) It might have caught your eye with a great cover, one you took a chance on...and scored with causing you to go through back catalogues to get more, or it might be an in-store play title. Or you heard a great track on the radio and you dashed to that favorite store to get your copy of the album (or single).  In short, it was a treat just to be there, a home away from home.  Even if you left the place emty-handed, your soul was filled.  To the top.

When the cancer of digital distribution hit the industry, these small stores were the first signs of sickness.  They sold to larger stores, they closed their doors; they just simply began to systematically die off (much like book stores are now dying).  Soon the big chains followed into a desert of bleached bones, the decayed resting place of many smaller houses that had gone before.  The story is one that seemingly fades to black.

But now, with the resurgence of vinyl interest, the interest in that once powerful gathering place is once again gaining a foothold. At one time, CDs were a part of that intensity, and in ways they still are, but it is the vinyl that is bringing people back. Why? Simple. The record store is cool.

Let's hope for the best here. Visit a Record Store near you, if only for the camaraderie. But know this...vinyl is cool, very cool!

Today, I'll leave you with my review of the recently released new Jeff Beck album called Emotion & Commotion.

Before we go, I'd like to mention the untimely passing of Peter Steele, who fronted Type O Negative, at the age of 48, likely of heart failure. Steele gave music all he had and his several affiliations will always underscore that. It is a sad day in Rockdom. Peter joins the Great Band with a bit of metal in his steps.

Have yourself a great weekend no matter what it is that you do. Hopefully, you'll get out to a Record Store nearby for the observatory day.

See you on Monday.

As some of you know, I have recreated this MusicTAP website. It's in the process of being completed after 6 months of intensive work, I'm hoping that you'll like it as much as I do. Here's the link; take a peek. I'm continually updating it even though it is not live as of yet. If you have suggestions, let me know. I've already fielded a few and have made some changes. There are also some lids being closed on some things, most notably the review pages. I'm reducing the info (removing the Facebook, MySpace, Last FM buttons and links, produced by info, etc) that is found within the content of the pages. Click the lnk below to get a sneak peek.

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I want to alert TAP readers to the fact that I have finally put together a FaceBook fan page that you can access and join by clicking on the badge below.  What this offers is the exact same thing as my Twitter feeds provide and that is first buzz on upcoming releases and free offered downloads, many announcements  that beat our main post, sometimes by days.  We also provide a Google BUZZ page that expands on most of the Twitter/FB feeds. On Buzz, you can even hear the music stream if a stream is offered.  There are still things that I'm working on in the FB page, like calender notes as well as links to great sites like The Second Disc.  I invite you to join us at our FB page and bookmark it.  Visit it daily and you'll be rewarded with much news and info.  Of course, you'll still want to come to the main MusicTAP page for our noisy commentaries.  Remember, with our Twitter feeds, you can elect to receive the news bursts as text on your mobile phone keeping you effortlessly up to date with stuff.  Lots of choices.  Find one, or two, that fits.

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Yeaaa!!! Tom Waits comes back to vinyl. On June 29. Elektra Records reaches into the Asylum vaults and will reissue four Tom Waits albums, Nighthawks in The Diner (1975), Closing Time (1973), The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), and Small Change (1976). Exciting!

Nonesuch Records will release Antifogmatic by The Punch Brothers on June 15 as a 2CD/1DVD Deluxe Edition.

Roadrunner Records plan the release of Population: Declining by Hail the Villain on CD scheduled for June 8.

Reprise Records plan vinyl LP release for Blood Mountain by Mastodon on April 17, in time for Record Store Day. The album will be released as a Deluxe 2LP, 180g 45rpm set as well as a standard LP issue.

Shout! Factory will release an Anniversary Edition of Bloodletting, a Concrete Blonde title from 1990 that featured "Joey", as well as a reissue of Don't Say No (1981), a popular solo album from ex-Piper (remember them?), Billy Squier. Both albums will feature remasteirng and a dose of unreleased bonus tracks. Bloodletting arrives on July 13, while Don't Say No drops on July 27.

Eagle Rock will release a BD (Blu-ray) set of an Emerson, Lake & Palmer show called Live at Montreux 1997. It will drop on June 22. Eagle Rock will also release Live at the Isle of Wight on BD featuring The Moody Blues, also on June 22.

Island Records will re-release The Greatest Hits: Don't Touch My Moustache (2009) for Hoobastank, while To Be Loved: The Best of Papa Roach will be released by Geffen Records. Both collections are planned for June 22.

Palindrome will be released by Billy Cobham via Varese Sarabande Records, which is scheduled for June 29.

Downtown Records will be releasing Memphis Blues by Cyndi Lauper on June 22 in both CD and LP formats.

Varese Sarabande Records will be releasing Essential Sun Records Country Hits by Jerry Lee Lewis on July 6.

Interscope Records plan the release of Nothing by N.E.R.D. on June 15.

Oglio Entertainment will release Singularity by Robby Krieger on July 13 on both CD and LP.

Geffen Records will release the debut album from Semi Precious Weapons called You Love You on both CD and DD, scheduling for June 22.

UMe Imports will release Callin' All, a comp album by The La's on June 8.